Belated race report for NorCal Retro
The season finale for NorCal Retro was held at Fast Track Hobbies in Rocklin on 11-17-19. As most know, we don’t race in December or January due to my work schedule. The ski business is just too busy for me to take any time during those months. Over the last month, I have been burning the candle at both ends due to my regular work load and the additional tasks related to opening a new store in Roseville. By necessity, the two later races in this report will be fairly brief.
For our final race of the season, we had 17 racers for Can Am and 13 each for F-1 and pro coupe. This was within one of our record for Can Am and may be an overall record due to the surprising turnout for the anglewinder coupes. This month, we had Justin and Tyler Colvin, Richard and Buddy Matthews, Jeffrey Cone, Ray Williams, Tom Larson, Greg Bishoff,and Randy Keil, all regulars at FTH. We also had Mark Bauer and Gary Hooks from Eddies and Howard Smith of 3rd eye controller fame. Other traveling racers included Mike Andrews and myself as well as international racers Herman James, Jason Hooper and Chris Crofts.
The Can Am race on the Purple Angel was very fast with several of the top finishers all (I think) eclipsing the previous lap total record. There was also some drama at the end of this race. Each racer raced eight heats and sat out corner marshaling for nine so it was a little hard to tell what was happening at any given time. Chris had the fastest car in the race but he dropped some laps early on due to a mechanical issue. I started out with a 36 in my first heat and held a one lap lead over Justin’s 35. Justin went to sit outs and I ran through all but one of my heats finishing with 246 through 7 heats. Jeffrey was the first of the lead pack to finish with a 280 lap total. Justin, Herman and Gary turned in solid heats all the way through and Chris was flying but too far back to make the podium. I came back in for my last heat (heat #17) and found myself in a tie with Herman and Justin with all three of us at 246 laps and maybe 30 feet between us. Early in the last heat, I felt pretty good about my chances but 5 or 6 laps in, a car came across the track and I hit him at full punch. My body was dragging afterwards and the braid was jacked up and although I finished, I dropped from a first place tie down to fourth. Justin pulled out a one lap win over Herman and both edged out Jeffrey who was a solid third.
We stayed on the Purple Angel for our pro coupe race and these fast anglewinders were really flying. Justin sort of set the tone for the rest of the day with a runaway win and a new in race, single lap record. Jeffrey in second was at least in the same time zone as far as speed but was pretty far back from Justin. Tyler wrapped up a consistent third while Herman ran fourth. Chris was fast as usual but had a chassis issue as I did and we both finished on the sidelines.
Our last race of this day was for our Mini Brute powered F-1 cars. Justin had a new car that was rocket fast and he checked out early turning at least one lap per heat more than the rest of us. The rest of the crew was pretty close though and Chris, Tyler and Jeffrey were set up to dice the whole race. I dropped out early with a broken front axle and Herman who would normally be right at the front, had some “stuff” going on and was in and out all race long. I got to watch as Tyler raced tooth and nail with Chris and Herman during a couple of heats and it was fun to watch. At the end, Justin was just gone but Chris held second with a one lap lead over Tyler who beat out Jeffrey by two for third.
Special thanks are in order to Scott Cone and Justin who really pitched in with sign ups, race set ups and directing and for generally taking some of my load off. This was a spectacular finish to the season and it bodes well for the future of Retro racing at least here at FTH.
There will be a separate announcement in the next few days regarding significant developments and future planning for NorCal Retro.
